• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Terminations

Freeport firefighter claims union talk led to firing

11/09/2011
Legal action is heating up the Panhandle town of Freeport, after firefighter John Carter sued the mayor and the fire chief.

Courts won’t second-guess honest business decisions

11/09/2011
Courts hesitate to second-guess an employer’s decision to cut staff for economic reasons. Generally, employees have to challenge such decisions head on, with direct evidence of discrimination. That’s hard to do.

Warn supervisors: It’s not your job to question why employees take FMLA leave

11/09/2011

Employees can’t be deprived of FMLA leave as long as they meet the law’s requirements for length of employment and hours worked and must deal with their own or a family member’s serious health condition. After FMLA leave has been approved, it’s a huge mistake to question employees about how they use their leave. Essentially, doing so may be interpreted as interference with the right to take leave.

When can you fire worker who filed complaint?

11/09/2011

Employees often mistakenly believe that if they complain to HR about discrimination or harassment, they somehow become untouchable. They assume that anything negative that happens shortly after must be retaliation. That’s simply not the case. If the employee breaks a rule, he’s not immune from the usual and customary punishment.

Messed up? Then ‘fess up and fix your mistake

11/09/2011

Hey, it happens: Sometimes, employers mess up. But they can undo much of the damage by acting fast to fix mistakes. Take this case, in which a termination letter was sent by mistake while the disciplinary process was still under way. A quick explanation and retraction saved the day.

What are our obligations to provide notice that a location is closing?

11/09/2011
Q. Due to a downturn in business, we are planning to close one of our stores. Ten employees will be affected. Do we have to give any advance notice to the employees of their layoff?

Never let fired employee unfairly blame bias; be prepared to prove performance deficiencies

11/07/2011
Employees who have lost their jobs have very little to lose and everything to gain by suing their former employers. Your best defense when firing: Al­­ways carefully document a performance-related reason for the termination. That will trump all but the most egregious cases of supervisory expressions of bigotry.

Your rules apply–even for employees preparing to sue

11/07/2011
Here’s another reason to have privacy and confidentiality rules: Em­­ployees who violate those rules in order to gather evidence for a lawsuit they have filed can be disciplined.

Don’t fret needlessly over being right

11/07/2011

Management doesn’t need to base its decisions on proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Courts generally uphold termination decisions, even if it turns out they were based on faulty information. Simply put, as long as an employer reasonably believes it’s firing an em­­ployee for a good reason, it doesn’t have to be right.

‘Ministerial exception’ applies to music director

10/31/2011
If yours is a religious organization, many employment discrimination laws may not apply to some employees who perform “ministerial” work.